Anonymous, 03 Oct 2017Google does release the new software, as you see the updates on nexuses/pixel devices.
After ... moreManufacturers shouldn't even care about it. XXI century OS should have a proper driver subsystem and deployment subsystem and should be distributed in binaries.

AnonD-596148, 03 Oct 2017Mobile vendors like xiaomi is a shame for ANDROID UPDATES.. Agreed, not to mention Samsung, Motorola, Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and Meizu.
Although Xiaomi has the new Mi A1, looks quite promising.
In my opinion, the best Android manufacturers with the fastest updates are Nokia, Sony, LG, HTC, and obviously Google.

Oathbreaker, 03 Oct 2017And 90% of them who updated to iOS11 wished they never did. Laggy and bye bye all-day battery ... moreHm, strange. My battery life on the iPhone 7 is completely fine, lasting a full day without a problem. The software itself is stable, as well, ever since iOS 10.0.2. And do not worry, buddy - iOS 12 & iOS 13 will not slow my phone that badly ;-)

My HTC One M7 and LG G3 Beat are still on KitKat. But once you experience the smooth animations of Material Design on Marshmallow or higher, it's hard to go back. I stopped using Greenify thanks to Doze.

KitKat feels like iOS6. Some old school iPhone users prefer iOS before iOS7. I do too. But if you go back to pre-iOS7, it will feel slower. Go watch videos of people using iPhone 4s still on it. You already get used to the widgets, Control Center, and how the recent updates operates.

Anonymous, 03 Oct 2017Still using marshmallow. It is smooth.That was the only thing right from the Android world in 2015 after Samsung sold out to hipsters, LG G4/V10 bootloops, and the bad SoC known as Snapdragon 810. It was the year Marshmallow was introduced.

Stick to MM for as long as you can. It is similar to why some people believe iOS6 (last of the Scott Forstall era) is considered the last great update before Jony Ive's iOS7 made it cater to little female preteeners.

Marshmallow also gives us that Flappy Android Easter egg like Lollipop did. The Nougat's cat one is terrible and the Octopus on Oreo is nothing special. L and MM had the best Easter eggs, period.

Marshmallow is simply better handling RAM than Nougat which is why I plan to stay on it with my newer G5. I hope it stays #1 for a little longer.

AnonD-625786, 03 Oct 2017Meanwhile, 30% of iPhone users are already running iOS 11, with the iPhone 5s still getting su... moreAnd 90% of them who updated to iOS11 wished they never did. Laggy and bye bye all-day battery life. Go on MacRumors forums to realize how bad iOS11 is.

Apple's planned obsolescence is a key feature to their users. Brag about 5-year software updates only for their iPhones to get slower and have terrible battery life after the third or fourth major update.

Android hit its stride with Marshmallow. I might keep my unlocked LG G5 on it because MM uses less RAM than Nougat and it retains LG's emojis instead of the ugly blob ones if updated to N. To me, Android 6 and 7 are the best versions of Android. Oreo isn't that special and killed some of my Pixel's battery life.

KitKat used to be my favorite but Material Design makes it look very dated now. Android got very fluid once Marshmallow ironed out the bugs from Lollipop. Then Nougat improved it further with split-screens and an improved Doze.

regs, 03 Oct 2017Multibillion company unable to make a proper deployment and driver subsystems...But all Google's phones get updates when it's released? Also, they created Treble so that others can do it too.

you know.. it's only real geeks that care about being on the very latest version. my mum now has my Galaxy S4 which still works perfectly.. 4 and a half years old.. it's still on one of the major android versions after going from 4.1 to kitkat and now finally ending with android 5 lollipop.. the point i make is that it's still a major android version.. supported for at least the next year or two going forward as it gradually goes down from its current almost 15%. the updates are great. from 6 onwards was the big change i think with battery optimising.. but 4.4 and 5/5.1 are still good. and still supported and that's what the average person likes about android. there isn't really a great need for most people to be on the very latest version and older ones going down slowly is a GOOD thing for MOST people!!